


Worth Helping

by Ias



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/F, Female Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-21 18:43:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/903582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ias/pseuds/Ias
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Osha is hurt, and predictably resists treatment. Meera decides to take things into her own hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth Helping

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the conversation between Osha and Meera in episode 3.02.

On one cold day when a constant fall of rain had drifted over the forest and drenched the travelers to the bone, Osha returned from a hunt sporting a pronounced limp. 

Meera noticed it immediately. Osha hid it well, but the way she favored her left foot and stopped to rest often was as obvious to her as if the limb had been lopped right off.

“What happened there?” Meera asked, tightening the webbing of her net where it had recently developed a hole. Hodor, Bran and Rickon were trying to set up a tent on the other side of the clearing, shivering under the persistent rain. Jojen watched them with his back to a tree. The rain didn’t bother him just as it scarcely bothered Meera. They were used to the wet. 

Osha’s eyes narrowed at the question. “Nothing happened. Mind your own business.” 

Meera leaned forward, inspecting her shrewdly. “For that being nothing, you seem to have developed an interesting new way of walking.” 

“I fell. The ground is too slippery in this rain. It’s nothing to concern yourself with.” 

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Meera said, but as Osha snorted and stalked away at a decidedly slower pace, she didn’t push the issue. The wilding woman could fend for herself. 

From then on, Osha began hanging further and further behind, under the pretense of sweeping for anyone foolish or gold-hungry enough to follow them so far north. Meera guessed the truth of it though, and as Osha fell further behind her doubts disappeared. The water had sunk deep into the earth and softened it into a mud that sunk their feet as they walked. It made for slow going, and even slower for their injured wilding. Meera said nothing until they had all settled in for the night. She cornered Osha before she could make some excuse to avoid her. 

“You should let me have a look at that leg,” Meera said, her voice reasonable. 

“Leave off, frogsticker,” Osha snapped. “My leg is fine.” 

“You’ve been limping all day, with no sign of getting better. It’s a long way to the Wall, and even longer after that. I won’t have you slowing us down.” 

“Then you can leave me behind,” Osha said. At this point she probably would have stormed away, but on her bad leg she could do little more than sit there and glare. Meera held her gaze for a while longer before shaking her head and stepping away. She wouldn’t put it past Osha to physically fight her off if she tried to tend to her, and she didn’t enjoy the idea of a brawl with the wilding even in a crippled state. Instead she settled down by Jojen’s side and watched Osha from the corner of her eye. 

The next day dawned clear and cool. Osha disappeared almost immediately as they began their day’s walking, again under the pretense of scouting. Meera waited until the sunlight was stronger before drawing even with Jorjen and leaning in to speak to him. 

“I’ll be out looking for some game,” she said. “Don’t wait up for me.” 

Jorjen nodded with a knowing smile. “Right. Good luck.” 

Meera stepped into the woods, moving quickly and quietly over the fallen pine needles and broken branches. Her feet sprung off the soft ground and her breath came quick but smooth. Moving through the forest came as second nature to her. The air smelled like frost and pine.

It didn’t take long to find Osha. The wilding woman had doubled back and stuck to the path, and Meera could hear her hard breathing. Her right leg was completely stiff, and she swung it out in front of her and winced with each step. 

Meera waited until she was merely a few feet away before stepping out from behind her tree. “Find anyone?” 

Osha jumped, the tip of her spear flying up immediately. “What are you talking about?” 

Meera smiled innocently. “You said you were hanging back to check for people hunting us. Did you find anyone?” 

Osha glared. “No. Not yet. But you best be getting back to our young lord and your brother. Would hate for something to happen to them without you there to fight their battles.” 

“Summer will protect them,” Meera said. “I’m needed elsewhere.” 

Osha narrowed her eyes. “Then I suggest you get there now.” 

Meera didn’t move, her arms crossed over her chest and a cool smile on her face. Osha made to step around her, and she moved to keep blocking her path. The glare the wilding sent her way could have cracked stone. 

“Don’t think I won’t skewer you,” Osha warned, her hand tightening on her spear. The effect was slightly lessened by the fact that she was currently putting half her weight on it. 

“I’m going to make this easy for you,” Meera said calmly. “You can either let me have a look at that leg, or you can swell up like a rotten peach and die. Your choice. But I will warn you, I’ve seen people go that way before—not pleasant.”

Osha opened her mouth and looked like she was about to say something very final, but something made her stop. Her grip on the spear loosened, and without another word she shuffled over to a boulder by the side of the path and slumped down on top of it with her leg splayed out in front. With an encouraging smile, Meera padded over and crouched beside her. 

“Can you take off your boot?” 

“I haven’t done since I fell,” Osha said. 

Meera carefully rolled Osha’s pants leg up over where she guessed the injury would be. Tentatively, she gave her boot a tug. A sharp breath hissed out through the woman’s teeth, and the hands resting on either side of her were suddenly white-knuckled. 

“I’m going to have to cut it off,” Meera said grimly. 

“ _What?_ ” Osha cried, practically diving away from her as if Meera were about to brandish a knife and hack of her foot right there. 

“Your _boot _, Osha. Hold still.” She took out a small knife and quickly slid it between the leather and Osha’s leg. With a few quick tugs the material opened up in a long gash all the way to the top of her foot, and the rest of the boot slid off easily.__

__Underneath, the ankle was swollen to nearly twice its normal size, the skin bruised and puffy around it. Meera probed with delicate fingers, stopping every time Osha flinched._ _

__“Sprained,” Meera pronounced, sitting back on her heels. “I’ll have to bind it.”_ _

__“I don’t want any bindings,” Osha complained._ _

__“Do you want to walk again?” Meera asked, her eyebrows raised. That silenced Osha’s protests while she wrapped cloth firmly around the injury to bring down the swelling. She found another branch with a V in it long enough for Osha to use as a crutch, and though the other woman clearly detested idea, she accepted it without a fight._ _

__“You’ll want to try and put something cold on it as often as you can,” Meera said. “A smooth rock, or some snow in a cloth. Once you stop pretending like nothing is wrong it should clear up fairly quickly.”_ _

__Osha climbed to her feet gingerly, testing out the makeshift crutch for a few steps. Meera watched closely._ _

__“How does it feel?” she asked. Osha loped in a slow circle, her pace improving as she grew accustomed to the movement._ _

__“Better,” she admitted. Meera smiled._ _

__“I did tell you so,” she said, climbing to her feet and shouldering her pack._ _

__“No need to be a braggart.” She limped a few steps, saw that Meera wasn’t going anywhere, and stopped again. “What are you waiting for?”_ _

__Meera glanced around. “You.” With a placid smile she scooped up Osha’s mangled boot, tucked it under her arm, and pulled out a bone needle and thick thread that she usually used for repairing her nets. “It’s not safe for any of us to be travelling alone. Especially wounded.” She poked the needle through the tough leather and began stitching it up. “Don’t worry. I don’t mind.”_ _

__Osha growled under her breath and took off at a tottering limp, muttering things under her breath in a language Meera didn’t know. She fell into step beside her, smiling quietly to herself._ _

__They didn’t say much throughout the day. When Osha would stumble, Meera would catch her arm. After a while the wilding stopped resisting. Meera worked on stitching up the boot, sewing the slit closed one loop of thread at a time._ _

__When they finally glimpsed the weak glimmer of the campfire up ahead of them, Osha stopped. Meera turned to look at her, expecting a glare or an insult or even a whack with her crutch. Instead the other woman just looked at her in confusion._ _

__“Why did you do all that for me?” she asked._ _

__Meera smiled, and pressed the finished boot back into Osha’s free hand. “Because you needed me to.”_ _


End file.
